Giddily married to her best friend. Texas native. A magazine editor. Novelist and writer. Working hard to become published. I'm delightfully whimsical, artsy and creative- almost to the point of sheer goofiness. I take frequent dance breaks wherever I am, whenever I can. My days are spent chasing my two Chihuahua puppies, Bitty and Bear. My motto: Be a happy duckie!
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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Special edition: The Gift 4

First, for a few announcements.

Friday, I will be posting the Blond Duck Confesses, a giant entry about everything you ever wanted to know. Want to know my favorite meal? I'll tell you. Want to know what I do for a living? I'll let you know. Want to know why I wear colorful socks instead of white ones? I have no problem informing you. So post your questions in the comments, and I'll answer them Friday.

And tomorrow, we have a new edition of the Gift to accompany today's special edition accompanied by a new award for ten lucky Invisible Friends! So you won't have to wait too long.

"You've got to see this!" Samantha cried, staring down at the flower floating in the vase. "I mean, this is amazing."

"Nine more minutes," Ashley moaned, burrowing under the comforter.

"Ashley Candace Beauford!" Samantha shouted. She leaped onto the bed and jumped up and down, prodding Ashley's form under the thick bedspread with her foot. "This is the most fascinating thing I've seen in my life and I want to share it with you. You can sleep later. Get up, get up, get up!" she cried, prodding her foot harder into the form.

"Get your foot off of my butt!" Ashley snapped. Flinging the covers back, she scowled and rolled out of bed. Yawning so hard her jaw cracked, she stumbled towards the vase. Samantha slid off the bed and rushed over, hopping up and down in glee.

"What's so important you had to drag me over here"-- Ashley looked down at the flower. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes. Running her fingers through her crazed hair, she looked at Samantha with wide eyes.

"Is this real? Did you do this?"

"I didn't do anything," Samantha protested, holding up her hands. "Seriously. I woke up and came over here to look at the flower. And here it was."

Both girls stared down at the vase with identical expressions of wonder and shock. Floating in a small bit of water, the brilliant pink flower now held a jeweled pendant. Diamonds and bright blue topaz stones dotted a symbol that Samantha had never seen in her life.

"Do you know what it is?" she asked, looking at her friend.

Ashley shrugged. "I'm sure it's an original design. Maybe some hot New York designer or something. Nature stuff is really big right now. This thing looks kind of Celtic or hippie-ish."

"Only one way to find out," Ashley grinned. She lifted the pendant off the flower and giggled. "Hey, look. There's another little note." She handed Samantha a tiny yellowed scroll. The paper was so stiff to Samantha's fingers that one part of her couldn't help but to wonder the age of the note. After all, it was hard to find paper that looked this realistically age. And the brown, crackling edges that crumbled as she unrolled it was only something a professional print artist could have dreamed up.

For the first time, she realized someone was truly watching her. For a brief moment, terror flashed through her as she stared at the little scroll. But then curiosity overcame her and she let her eyes dance over the handwritten words.

"Don your hair with flowers and sprinkle your neck with jewels," Samantha read aloud. "But no matter what you wear, you're always beautiful to me. Until sunset. Love, Me." She crumpled her fingers around the note. "Who do you think Me is? Do you think it's Jeremy?"

Ashley snorted. "No offense, honey, but the man gave you workout DVDs for Christmas. He's not exactly the original type. Plus, if this is real, he couldn't afford gems like this."

"Well, then who is it?" Samantha asked, anxiety twisting in her stomach. "I mean, I'd like to thanks him--or her, I guess. I'm also a little...nervous."

"Nervous?" Ashley raised a disheveled eyebrow. "Honey, if I had some mysterious person sending me magic flowers that sprouted jewels, I'd marry them even if it was a 400 lb. mobster from New Jersey with permanent garlic breath who lived with his neurotic mother and nine cats." Seeing her friend's worried expression, she rolled her eyes and grabbed her hand.

"Come on," she said, pulling her towards the kitchen. "We got a lot of work to do."

"Huh?" Samantha replied inelegantly. "What do you mean?"

Ashley whirled around and dangled the gem. It glittered in the early morning light streaming through the hallway, shimmering among her parent's sleek wooden cabin furnishings.

"If you're anything like me," she said with a grin. "You've got a lot of ex-boyfriends. Let's figure out which one wants you back."

To be continued....

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends! we have an award for ten of my favorite Invisible Friends and Tuesday we have an escape that we all can agree with! Wednesday is a new Twirl and We have a week full of whimsical fun! TomorrowThursday I share my perfected chicken pot pies with you--and they're LOW FAT! If that wasn't enough, we've got the Blond Duck Confessions on Friday. So grab some pie and settle in--we got enough whimsy to keep you twirling for days!

38 comments:

Ohh this just gets better and better Duckie!! I wonder what the great mystery is. I can't wait to see all the things you have planned to entertain us this week. They all sound wonderful and delicious and low fat? Hey, it has to be good! And confessions....hmm... can I ask another question. Who kissed who first? You or Ben. What was your first kiss like, did fireworks go off? When did you know HE was the one?

Hey Sweetie- I just finished your book this morning. I know I am your mom and all, but I am totally blown away at how great it is. I really loved how the one boy called his brother Lester because he thought he was a rat. It has so many different types of stories you almost think several people wrote them. I really liked that. I hate reading the same story with different names attached. Great job and I really like The Gift too.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I was shocked to have a new comment ~ I've done almost nothing to promote my blog beyond telling just a couple of people about it so I don't get many hits.

The Gift is interesting, I'll have to come back when I have a little more time and read the story from the beginning. (**You've been forewarned - I WILL be back. I'm like the stalkerattzi of the blog world!**)

Oh. My. Goodness. Miranda, I have been reading Twirl non-stop (or as non-stop as I can be with two kids) since you sent it to me yesterday. Just finished and I have to tell you that I LOVED it. Thank you so much for your willingness to share your writing talent. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to go back and understand the history between Wade and Vivi.

I am more eager than ever to read future installments of Twirl. :)

-Francesca

PS: Questions for Friday, I've got two...

1) What is the process for you publishing a book like Twirl? Are you close to doing so?

2) Are you only able to write in your free time or is working on your novel(s) a part of your daily job responsibilities as a magazine editor?

Great story. (I love them all!) I can't wait to see your Blond Duck Confessional! How fun!

I want to know how you find time to write all of those fun stories? I can barely find time to post a couple of pictures, let alone come up with all of the plot lines and stories and then keep them all straight while writing them simultaneously! You truly amaze me!